''Elaeocarpus griffithii'' is a tree in the family

Elaeocarpaceae Elaeaocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants. The family contains approximately 615 species of trees and shrubs in 12 genera."Elaeocarpaceae" In: Klaus Kubitzki (ed.). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' vol. VI. Springer-Verlag: Be ...

. It is found in parts of Island and Mainland Southeast Asia. It is used in construction, as firewood and in dyeing.

Description

It has smooth bark, and grows 10-25m tall in dense and flooded forests.

Distribution

The tree is found in

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

Sumatera Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

Habitat

The tree occurs in ombrotrophic (rain-fed) coastal peat swamp forest in

Kubu Raya Regency Kubu Raya Regency or Great Kubu Regency is a regency of West Kalimantan, Indonesia. It was created on 17 July 2007 from the (larger) central and southern part of Pontianak Regency. It covers an area of 6,985.24 km2, and it had a population of ...

, and in the ombrotrophic peatland forest of Berasap and Tulak in the

Ketapang Regency Ketapang Regency is a regency in the south of the province of West Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. Ketapang Regency occupies an area of 31,588 km2, and at the census in 2010 it had 427,460 inhabitants following the splitting ...

, of

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak, Indonesia, Pontianak. The province has ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. In the southernmost province of Thailand,

Narathiwat Narathiwat ( th, นราธิวาส, ) is a town (thesaban mueang) in southern Thailand and capital of Narathiwat Province. The town is in the Mueang Narathiwat District and was established in 1936. As of 2008, the population was 40,521. ...

, within the To Daeng peat swamp forest, ''Elaeocarpus griffithii'' is found among the primary forest, but not the secondary formations. The species grows in ''choams'' ( Khmer, permanently inundated evergreen swamp forests) of northern Stung Treng Province, Cambodia, occurring in both seasonally and permanently inundated areas. The species is one of the most common species of tree in the wetland swamp forests of the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , ...

floodplain of southern Vietnam, along with ''

Barringtonia acutangula ''Barringtonia acutangula'' is a species of ''Barringtonia'' native to coastal wetlands in southern Asia and northern Australasia, from Afghanistan east to the Philippines, Queensland and the Northern Territory. Common names include freshwater m ...

'', ''

Diospyros cambodiana ''Diospyros cambodiana'' is a tree in the Ebenaceae family, endemic to the Mekong basin, Cambodia. It grows some 15-20m tall in flooded/swamp forest. One of its vernacular names (ach kânndaô'') derives from the perceived likeness of its flowers ...

'', '' Elaeocarpus hygrophilus'', ''

Hydnocarpus castaneus ''Hydnocarpus castaneus'' is an Asian tree species in the family Achariaceae. It is now accepted that ''Hydnocarpus anthelminthicus'' is a synonym and its native range is from Burma, the rest of Indochina through to W. Malesia; this species is n ...

'', and ''

Mallotus plicatus ''Mallotus plicatus'' is a tree or shrub in the Euphorbiaceae family, in the ''Polyadenii'' section. It occurs in much of Mainland Southeast Asia. It is used for dyeing and in construction. Description, habitat A tree or shrub, growing from 5 to ...

''.

Ecology

While investigating the effects of forest degradation (clearfelling and other old-growth forest reduction) on the peatland forest of Berasap and Tulak in the Ketapang Regency of West Kalimantan, Astiani showed increasingly reduced density of ''Elaeocarpus griffithii'' as degradation increased. In another study looking at waterflow from trees to the soil, conducted in coastal peat swamp forest of Kubu Raya Regency, West Kalimantan, ''Elaeocarpus griffithii'' was found to have high stemflow down to the soil. This is consistent with other smooth-barked taxa, as opposed to coarse- and mid-barked taxa.

Vernacular names

The plant is named in various ways in a number of languages: ''mempening'' (Kabu Raya Regency, Kalimantan), ''luët chum'', ''rumdé:nh phluk'', ''chorm nhi'' ( Khmer); ''côm tầng'', ''côm griffith'' (

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

)

Uses

The wood is used in construction and as firewood in Cambodia, and in construction as well as a source of tannin for dyeing in Vietnam.

History

The species was first described by the eminent US botanist

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

in his 1854 publication within the official report of the

Wilkes Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

(1838–42) of the Pacific and surrounding lands.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15316970 griffithii Flora of Borneo Flora of Indo-China Flora of Peninsular Malaysia Flora of Sumatra Plants described in 1854